Dry shaver having a rotatable shearing element and a reciprocable blade member



11, 1964 A. H. SHOEMAKER 3,143,797

DRY SHAVER HAVING A ROTATABLE SHEARING ELEMENT AND A RECIPRQCABLE BLADE MEMBER Filed Jan. 2, 1962 fZgJ I llll INVENTOR.

fiT TORNE Y United States Patent 3 14.5 797 DRY SHAVER nAvnvi; AnorArAnrE srmannso ELEMENT AND A nncn nocasrn aLAnn MEM- 3 Claims. (Cl. 3l)43.5)

My invention relates to a new type dry shaver having a rotatable shearing element and a reciprocable blade member.

Objects of my invention are to provide a dry shaver which will shave rapidly and closely and without irritation or injury to the skin.

Another object is to provide a dry shaver by which a clean shave can be obtained Without repeatedly going over the same face area.

Another object is to provide a dry shaver which operates at a relatively slow speed, is smooth and quiet in its operation, can be operated by a power unit remote from the shaver and also can be operated by hand.

Another object is to provide a dry shaver in which the face tissue or skin contacts and rests against an inner rotatively driven member, herein termed a shear element, and the beard extends into narrow grooves or slits in said shear element and is held by the shear element and in which blades are reciprocated between the face and the shear element in closely shaving the beard.

Other objects are to provide a dry shaver which will efiiciently shave fairly long beard, which can be constructed to utilize both reciprocating and rotary movement in its operation or to be operated by rotary movement only, which is small and compact making it easy to handle and carry, and which is shaped so that it is convenient to apply to all parts of the face.

Other objects of my invention will be apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings.

In the drawings FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a dry shaver constructed in accordance with my invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same taken substantially on broken line 22 of FIG. 1, parts being shown in elevation.

FIG. 3 is a cross section, on a larger scale than FIG. 2, taken substantially on broken line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a development or flat View showing a portion of a tubular cutter head which is provided with triangularly shaped openings of fairly large size arranged in such a manner as to leave blades with inclined edges between them.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of part of the tubular blade member shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a schematic fragmentary view on an enlarged scale illustrating the mode of operation of my dry shaver.

FIG. 7 is a detached view partly in elevation and partly in section showing a knob which can be used to adapt my shaver for manual operation.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a disc shaped rotary shaver constructed in accordance with my invention, part of an outer disc or blade member being broken away to reveal the slitted surface of an inner disc or shear element.

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on broken line 99 of FIG. 8.

Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.

My dry shaver, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, comprises three main parts, namely a tubular handle member 16, a rotatable cylindrical member 11 disposed coaxially of and partially within the handle member 16 and an outer tubular member 12 reciprocably supported on the cylindrical member 11.

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The cylindrical member 11 is herein termed a shear element because it cooperates in the shaving by supporting the beard and providing shearing edges or corners against which the beard is cut by blades. The outer tubular member 12 is herein termed a blade member because it has a plurality of triangularly shaped openings formed therein, said openings being numbered 13, and the parts 14 between the openings 13 and which form the edges or margins of the openings are inclined and serve as blades against which the beard can be cut with a shearing action. The cutting edges of the parts 14 can be beveled, as shown in FIG. 6, if desired. However, this blade member, being thin and formed of a good grade of hard metal, will operate efficiently if the edges are not so beveled.

The blade member 12 can be made from a cylindrical tube of thin material. However, for structural reasons I prefer to make this member 12 from thin fiat sheet metal and to form the triangular openings 13 in the flat sheet and then bend said sheet into partially but not completely cylindrical shape, as shown in FIG. 3, and to provide it with outwardly bent edge portions or flanges 15. Preferably the perforated part of the blade member 12 is in the order of about one hundred eighty degrees in extent, that is it extends about half way around the shearing member 11. A clamping plate 16 completes the assembly of the blade member. This clamping plate 16 is provided With inwardly bent edges 17 which cooperate in forming grooves that fit over and receive the outwardly extending flanges 15 of the arcuate blade member. The clamping plate 16 With inwardly bent edge portions 17 can be made so that said plate 16 and the blade member 12 may be assembled by relative endwise movement, the outwardly bent flanges 15 being slidably received within the grooves formed in part by the inwardly bent edge portions 17 of the clamping plate 16. After the two parts 12 and 16 are assembled they are rigidly secured together so they will operate as a unit. A cap 18 can be used as a closure member for the outer end of the tubular blade member formed by parts 2 and 16.

The shearing element 11 is made up of a plurality of thin cylindrical lands 29 between which are a plurality of narrow annular grooves 21. The grooves 21 are wide enough so that beard hairs H, FIG. 6, can enter into them but are narrow enough so that the skin will not enter. The lands Ztl are not sharpened blades but they have fiat narrow cylindrical outer walls 22 at right angles to their side walls, said outer walls 22 being smooth and narrow but unsharpened so that, when the shaver is in use and is being moved over the face and the shearing element 11 is rotating the skin can contact and rest against the lands 21) but will not enter into the grooves 21 and will not be cut or scraped or burned or injured in any way by the rotating shear element 11.

In the shear element 11 herein disclosed the lands 21 are thin washer shaped members spaced apart by other washer shaped members 23 of smaller diameter all assembled on a shaft 24. A cylindrical cam member 25 is provided on the shaft 24- and nuts 26 and 27 on the shaft 24 clamp the assembled parts 29, 23 and 25 securely together, it being understood that the nut 26 can be a fixed collar.

The shaft 24 extends to the left, FIG. 2, fiom the cam member 25 through preferably two spaced apart bearing members 28 and 29 in the housing 10. A thrust collar 30 is secured to the shaft 24 between the two bearing members 28 and 29 to prevent endwise movement of the shaft 24 and cam member 25 and other parts of the shear element 11 relative tothe handle 10. Any suitable means for rotating the shaft 24 at a speed preferably not in excess of three hundred revolutions per minute can be connected with the outer end portion of said shaft. Preferably relatively slow speed electrically operated devices, such as the driven flexible shaft 31, are provided for driving the shaft 24. However, applicant finds that this shaver can be successfully used for shaving if it is operated manually by applying a knob 32, FIG. 7, to the shaft 24 and using this knob to manually turn said shaft 24.

The cylindrical cam member 25 is provided with a continuous cam groove 33 which receives the end portion of a pin 34. The pin 34 extends through and is rigidly attached to the clamping plate 16 and in this way the pin 34 is rigidly connected with the blade member 12 for moving said blade member. Also the pin 34 extends outwardly into a longitudinally extending slot 35 in the housing 10. Obviously a roller can be used on the end portion of the pin 34 which extends into and operates in the cam slot 33. The pin 34 is herein disclosed as being in the form of a stepped screw having a head 34b operating in the slot 35, the inner end part operating in the cam groove 33 and a medial portion 34:: threaded into the plate 16. The head 34b operating in the slot 35 of handle 1t) permits longitudinal movement of the blade member 12 relative to the handle and shearing element 11 while preventing relative rotary movement of the blade member 12 and handle 10. Preferably a cover plate 36 is removably secured over the slot 35.

In the operation of the dry shaver shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, the shearing element 11 is driven, preferably at a speed of from two to three hundred revolutions per minute and the perforated area of the blade member 12 is pressed against the face. The blade member 12 is thin and the perforations 13 are large enough so that face tissue or skin S, shown schematically in FIG. 6, extends into these perforations 13 and lies against the outer surfaces 22 of the lands 20 but does not enter into the grooves 21 between said lands while the beard hairs do enter the grooves 21. As the shearing element 11 rotates it slides freely over the face and reciprocably moves the blades of the member 12 between the face and said shearing member 11 and shaves the beard very closely and smoothly Without injuring the face.

Movement of the shaver over the face combined with the rotary movement of the shearing element 11 causes substantially all of the beard hairs of any area of the face over which the shaver is passed once to enter the grooves 21 and be closely cut by the reciprocating blade member 12. This is true even though the beard is fairly long and this makes it unnecessary to repeatedly go over the same face area, a thing which must be done with shavers having fine mesh shaving screens through which the beard must protrude before it can be cut. The rotation of the shearing element helps to take care of longer beard hairs by tending to straighten them out in the grooves 21.

Due to the large size ofthe triangular openings 13 the face tissue or skin S, FIG. 6, always freely contacts the annularly grooved rotating shearing element and the beard hairs drop into the grooves 21 and there is no problem of getting the beard hairs through the openings of a fine mesh shaving screen. The shearing element 11 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 2 so that the peripheral parts 22 of the lands 20 are always moving toward the convergent ends of the triangularly shaped openings 13. This results in a better shearing cut of the beard hairs H than would be obtained if the peripheries of the lands 20 were moved toward the larger ends of the openings 13. The incline of the two shearing edges of each triangular opening 13 provide the same shearing cut irrespective of the direction in which the reciprocating blade member 12 is moving when the cut in made. The cut of the beard hairs H is always made against a rotatively moving edge or corner of one of the lands 20. The absence of bearings between the blade member 12 and. shearing element 11 makes these two parts self centering relative to each other and the relative movement between these two parts keeps the lands 2i) clean and their corners sharp.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show an embodiment of my invention in a dry shaver in which an outer circular blade member 40 made from a flat disc of thin metal is rotatively movable over an inner circular shearing member 41 also made from a flat disc of thin metal. The blade member 40 and shearing member 41 are provided respectivedly with outwardly arched annular corrugations 42 and 43 of arcuate cross section. The corrugations 42 and 43 are sized and shaped so that the corrugation 42 of the blade member 40 fits snugly over the corrugation 43 of the shearing element 41. The corrugated portion 42 of the blade member 40 is provided with a plurality of fairly large openings 44 through which face tissue or skin can enter and rest against the shearing element 41. The strips of metal 45 between the openings 44 of the blade member 40 serve as blades. The edges of these blade strips 45 are nonradial and can be curved, as shown in FIG. 8.

The corrugated portion 43 of the shearing element 41 is provided with a plurality of narrow slits 46. The slits 46 are wide enough to receive beard hairs but are narrow enough so that face tissue or skin will not enter into them. These narrow slits 46 extend across the corrugation 43 in non-radial directions and at an incline so that as the blade strips 45 are moved across them they are always in shearing relation to the cutting edges of the blade strips 45 and are never exactly parallel to these cutting edges at the time of cutting. Thus the slits 46 receive and hold the beard and cooperate with the blade strips 45 in providing a slicing cut and closely shaving the beard when the disc 40 is pressed against the face and rotated and the blade strips 45 are moved across the slits 46 between the skin and the shearing element 41.

The peripheral portion of the shearing member 41 is secured to a ring shaped frame or body piece 47 which is rounded on its outer side and can be held in the hand in pressing the shaver against the face and moving it over the face. The axial portion of the shearing member 41 is secured to a tubular bearing member 48 throught which a shaft member 49 extends. The axial portion of the circular blade member 40 is rigidly secured to the upper end of the shaft member 49. The lower end portion of the shaft member 49 is preferably threaded to facilitate its connection either with a hand knob 51, by which it may be manually turned in the direction indicated by the arrow B, or with a slow speed flexible shaft similar to the shaft 31 shown in FIG. 1.

The mode of operation of the rotary dry shaver shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is similar to that of the dry shaver shown in FIGS. 1 to 7 inclusive in that the face tissue extends through the relatively large openings 44 in the blade member 40 and rests against the shearing member 41 and the blades 45 operate between the face and the sharing member or element 41.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawings clearly illustrate perferred embodiments of my invention but it will be understood that this disclosure is merely illustrative and that changes may be made within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a dry shaver for shaving skin from which beard protrudes, a rotatively driven cylindrical shearing element having narrow annular grooves therein capable of receiving beard and narrow enough to exclude the skin when the shearing element is pressed against the skin; annular lands between said annular grooves, said lands having smooth peripheral surfaces; an external tubular blade member of thin material movably supported on said shearing element and having therein openings of substantial size through which skin enters and contacts the lands of the shearing element when the shaver is pressed against the skin, parts of said blade member between said openings functioning as blades and being capable of movement between the shearing element and the skin without injury to the skin; and means operable in longitudinally reciprocating said blade member on said shearing element when said shearing element is rotatively driven.

2. In a dry shaver for shaving skin from which beard protrudes, a rotatively driven cylindrical shearing element having narrow annular grooves therein capable of receiving beard and narrow enough to exclude the skin when the shearing element is pressed against the skin; annular lands between said narrow annular grooves, said lands having smooth narrow peripheral surfaces; an external tubular blade member of thin material movably supported on said shearing element and having therein openings of substantial size through which skin extends and contacts the lands of the shearing element when the shaver is pressed against the skin, parts of said blade member between said openings functioning as blades and being capable of movement between the shearing element and the skin without injury to the skin; a cam attached to and rotatable with said shearing element; and means operable by said cam in reciprocating said blade member on said shearing element when said shearing element is rotated.

3. A dry shaver for shaving skin from which beard hairs protrude comprising a tubular handle; a cylindrical shearing element rotatively mounted for driving purposes in said handle; a plurality of narrow annular lands provided in closely spaced apart relation on said shearing element, each land having a smooth peripheral surface; a plurality of narrow annular grooves provided in said shearing element between said lands, each annular groove being wide enough to receive beard hairs and narrow enough to preclude entrance of the skin therein when the shaver is pressed against the skin; an external tubular blade member of thin material movably supported on said shearing element and having therein openings of substantial size through which skin extends and contacts the lands of the shearing element when the shaver is pressed against the skin, parts of said blade member between said openings functioning as blades and being capable of movement between the shearing element and the skin in closely shaving the beard without injury to the skin; and means operable in longitudinally reciprocating said blade member on said shearing element when said shearing element is rotatively driven.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,220,800 J'epson Nov. 5, 1940 2,286,443 Scully June 16, 1942 2,355,672 Page Aug. 15, 1944 2,360,785 Mehl Oct. 17, 1944 2,423,595 Hall July 8, 1947 2,598,292 ORussa May 27, 1952 2,965,966 Jacobs Dec. 27, 1960 3,027,635 Frith Apr. 3, 1962 

1. IN A DRY SHAVER FOR SHAVING SKIN FROM WHICH BEARD PROTRUDES, A ROTATIVELY DRIVEN CYLINDRICAL SHEARING ELEMENT HAVING NARROW ANNULAR GROOVES THEREIN CAPABLE OF RECEIVING BEARD AND NARROW ENOUGH TO EXCLUDE THE SKIN WHEN THE SHEARING ELEMENT IS PRESSED AGAINST THE SKIN; ANNULAR LANDS BETWEEN SAID ANNULAR GROOVES, SAID LANDS HAVING SMOOTH PERIPHERAL SURFACES; AN EXTERNAL TUBULAR BLADE MEMBER OF THIN MATERIAL MOVABLY SUPPORTED ON SAID SHEARING ELEMENT AND HAVING THEREIN OPENINGS OF SUBSTANTIAL SIZE THROUGH WHICH SKIN ENTERS AND CONTACTS THE LANDS OF THE SHEARING ELEMENT WHEN THE SHAVER IS PRESSED AGAINST THE SKIN, PARTS OF SAID BLADE MEMBER BETWEEN SAID OPENINGS FUNCTIONING AS BLADES AND BEING CAPABLE OF MOVEMENT BETWEEN THE SHEARING ELEMENT AND THE SKIN WITHOUT INJURY TO THE SKIN; AND MEANS OPERABLE IN LONGITUDINALLY RECIPROCATING SAID BLADE MEMBER ON SAID SHEARING ELEMENT WHEN SAID SHEARING ELEMENT IS ROTATIVELY DRIVEN. 